US support for Netanyahu has started wearing thin

Joe Biden has had enough of Benjamin Netanyahu. The US President’s dislike of the Israeli premier was apparent six weeks ago, when the White House made little effort to deny reports that Biden had dubbed Netanyahu an “asshole” over his refusal to ease the bombardment of Gaza.

America’s decision to allow the Gaza ceasefire resolution through the UN Security Council on Monday is designed to show that US diplomatic cover for Israel is no longer guaranteed.

Many analysts are now describing Israel as a strategic liability for the US.

The Biden administration says it is vehemently opposed to an invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza “without a credible and executable plan for ensuring the safety of and support for the civilians”. But it is not certain Netanyahu will change course. Would Biden really use the nuclear option – pulling the plug on arms shipments?

Observers detect a change in the air. “When Senator Chuck Schumer, one of Israel’s staunchest defenders, gives a speech on the Senate floor declaring that Netanyahu’s policies are bad for Israel, you know that the political winds are shifting,” says Stephen Walt, an international relations expert at Harvard University.

Criticism of Netanyahu by the Jewish Democrat Senator prompted a vitriolic response from Donald Trump, who then declared that Jews who vote Democrat “hate Israel”.

Some pundits say Trump went too far. Todd Landman, a political scientist at Nottingham University, says: “This is a reductionist logic that has offended many Jewish people in both main political parties. It is also a binary electoral strategy that will alienate potential Trump voters.”

The Republican nominee has attacked Biden for not supporting Israel enough in its assault on Gaza. Trump believes that, with US backing, Israel needs to “finish it [the war] up and do it quickly”.

None of this is a surprise. From 2016 to 2020, then president Trump was the gift that kept on giving for Netanyahu.

Trump recognised Israel’s control of the Golan Heights and moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, strengthening the Israeli Prime Minister’s appeal among the ultraZionist parties he needs to prop up his fifth premiership.

If Trump returns to the White House, Netanyahu can expect more of the same.